Dear Agony(Album)
Dear Agony is the fourth studio album by post-grunge/alternative metal band Breaking Benjamin. It was released on September 29, 2009. A Best Buy edition, Japanese import version, and Zune exclusive version were also released, all of which feature bonus content. It is the last album released by the band to feature lead guitarist Aaron Fincke, bassist Mark Klepaski, and drummer Chad Szeliga. History Breaking Benjamin began writing for Dear Agony during 2008. The recording process began in September, leading to its release one year later. The cover of the album is an MRI scan of frontman Benjamin Burnley's head.[4] Burnley has cited Dear Agony as the first album he has written sober.[5] After the album's release it entered the Billboard 200 Chart at #4 selling roughly 134,000 copies in its first week, slightly more than Phobia. It also topped the iTunes download charts in the first week of its release.[6] As of February 16, 2010, Dear Agony has been certified Gold by the RIAA and sold over 700,000 copies.[7] "Lights Out" was used to promote the video game, Halo: Reach. Promotion On September 23, 2009, Breaking Benjamin released an online browser game constructed from Adobe Flash which is a parody of Altered Beast, aptly titled "Altered Benjamin". The game contains three levels and plays the same as the original, except the player controls vocalist Benjamin Burnley and the three bosses are each other member of the band respectively. The game also features the debut of the songs, "Fade Away" and "Crawl". Limited edition copies of Dear Agony purchased at Best Buy also included a bonus DVD that features the band's six music videos, including a previously unreleased version of the video for "I Will Not Bow". The version on the DVD is of the band only and does not contain any footage from the feature-film Surrogates, unlike the main version released online. On September 29, 2009, "I Will Not Bow" was released as a downloadable track for the video games Rock Band and Rock Band 2.[8] On February 16, 2010, "Give Me a Sign", "Until the End" and "Sooner or Later" were released as downloadable content for Guitar Hero 5. Additional Information About the Singles "I Will Not Bow" was released for sale on August 31 as the album's first single. It was released to the radio and the band's MySpace page on August 11, 2009 instead of the planned date, August 17, 2009 due to a leak by their hometown radio station, WBSX. This single is featured in the film Surrogates, with the music video containing scenes from the movie. On November 13, 2009, the official music video for "I Will Not Bow" was released on YouTube. The original version of the music video, however, did not contain scenes from the movie Surrogates.[10] "Give Me a Sign" was released as a radio single on January 5, 2010.[11] The music video was released on March 10, 2010 through the band's MySpace website and also on Vevo. The video can also be seen on YouTube. According to AOL Radio Blog and Rawkpit.com, "Lights Out" was announced as the third single and it went to radio on June 15, according to All Access. Track Listings All songs written and composed by Benjamin Burnley, except "I Will Not Bow", "Hopeless", "Lights Out" and "Without You" composed by Burnley and Jasen Rauch. Personal ;Breaking Benjamin *Benjamin Burnley - lead vocals, rhythm guitar *Aaron Fincke - lead guitar *Mark Klepaski - bass *Chad Szeliga - drums, percussions ;Additional musicians *Rachel Golub - violin on "Anthem of the Angels" and "Without You" *David Eggar - cello on "Anthem of the Angels" and "Without You" *Jonathan Dinklage - violin, viola on "Anthem of the Angels" and "Without You" ;Production *David Bendeth - producer, Mixer *Dan Korneff - engineer, digital editing *Ted Jensen - mastering *Jon D'Uva - digital editing, engineer *John Bender - digital editing, engineer *Kato Khandwala - digital editing, engineer *Michael "Mitch" Milan - assistant engineer *Jason Jordan - A&R *Florian Schneider - photography *David Snow - creative director Chart Listings Album Year-end charts References #Grierson, Tim. "Breaking Benjamin - 'Dear Agony' Review". about.com. Retrieved 2009-12-08. #Monger, James Christopher. "Dear Agony > Overview". Allmusic. Retrieved 2009-09-28. #Boy, Davey (September 27, 2009). "Breaking Benjamin - Dear Agony Review". Sputnikmusic. Retrieved 2009-09-28. #Choman, Alexander (October 4, 2009). "Breaking Benjamin releases 4th album". Republican & Herald. Retrieved October 25, 2009.[dead link] #Lello, Michael Breaking the Silence The Weekender (September 15, 2009). Retrieved on 2-09-10. #[1][dead link] #08:31 PM. "RIAA - Gold & Platinum - March 6, 2010". RIAA. Retrieved 2010-06-02. #"Rock Band Weekly: Alice in Chains, Breaking Benjamin, Just Kait, Kula Shaker". joystiq.com. 2009-09-25. #"Guitar Guitar Hero(R)'s February Downloadable Content Lineup Packs a Powerful Punch With Fresh Music From Top Bands". PR Newswire. 2010-01-28. #13 november 2009 (2009-11-13). "Breaking Benjamin - I Will Not Bow OFFICIAL". YouTube. Retrieved 2010-03-02. #"Future Releases on Alternative Radio Stations, Independent Artist Song Releases |". Allaccess.com. Retrieved 2010-03-02. #Posted on May 26th 2010 11:37AM by Matthew Wilkening (2010-05-26). "Breaking Benjamin, 'Lights Out' - New Song". AOL Radio Blog. Retrieved 2012-02-13. #[2][dead link] #"Dear Agony - Breaking Benjamin". Billboard. Retrieved 2011-08-24. #"New Zealand chart positions". charts.org.nz. Retrieved 2012-06-23. #"Ｂｒｅａｋｉｎｇ　ＢｅｎｊａｍｉｎのCDアルバムランキング、Ｂｒｅａｋｉｎｇ　Ｂｅｎｊａｍｉｎのプロフィールならオリコン芸能人事典-ORICON STYLE". Oricon.co.jp. Retrieved 2013-12-30. #"Best of 2010 - Billboard Top 200". Billboard. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. Retrieved 2010-12-31.